The Blessing And The Curse

The Blessing and the Curse

Numbers 21:5-9 (KJV)

5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

It is truly amazing how God used the most infamous cursed beast of the bible to bring a blessing to the people that He had set aside to be His chosen people.

This is one of the reasons that I love God so much because no matter what situation I find myself in I can always say that God has control and all I need to figure out is what is it that He wants me to learn from this experience.

To put this theory into context let’s first explore the difference between the meaning of a person being blessed versus a person being cursed

According to google.com:

"To be blessed" means ’to be favoured by God’. Blessings therefore are directly associated with God and comes from God. Therefore to express a blessing, is like bestowing a wish on someone that he/she will experience the favour of God.

"May you have a blessed Christmas", therefore can also be translated as: "May you experience the favor of God during this Christmas period."

A curse, at least in its most formal sense, is the opposite of a blessing. Compare charm.

In the Christian holy book, the Bible, blessings and curses are related; the book of Deuteronomy prescribes that obedience to the Torah brings God’s blessing, while disobedience brings a curse. The Priestly Blessing is set forth at Numbers 6:24-26:

A curse is the effective action of some power, distinguished solely by the quality of adversity that it brings. A curse may also be said to result from a spell or prayer, imprecation or execration, or other imposition by magic or witchcraft, asking that a god, natural force, or spirit bring misfortune to someone.

Above info came from google.com

For most of my life I had always associated the serpent to be the devil and everything about the serpent I thought was evil and I wanted nothing to do with it.

It is amazing how God can use the beast that permanently damaged mankind to be a blessing to them in a time of need

In today’s study we must realize that the children of Israel are facing what they have determined as to be some very trying and difficult times

Many of us have considered our present situations to be trying and difficult but all we need to do is look back

Although they had just escaped the most difficult slavery and worse bondage known to man they somehow looked at the situation they were in now and wondered if they were in a better place when they were in Egypt

This is like many of us today God has stretched His hand to bless us and deliver us out of certain situations yet we look back on what He delivered us out of and wonder if where we came from is better than where we find ourselves now

The children of Israel were certainly blessed yet they were struggling; they were struggling with their blessings

Though they realized that they were blessed and delivered (Numbers 20:16) they had come to a point where they depended on man to allow them to pass (Numbers 20:17)

And just like the obstacle that they are facing now (Numbers 20:18), as they escaped Egypt, they faced a barrier that seemed impossible to cross (see RED SEA)

How many of us are facing obstacles and barriers in our lives right now that seem like there is no possible way to cross them. We need to think back to the last time that God delivered us and learn to trust in Him. He has our best interest in mind

The next scripture is truly an interesting fact in that for many years I like many other people thought that the children of Israel were poor and unable to afford food and clothes and this is why God had to totally and miraculously sustain them while they were in the wilderness